The 48th Annual Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Lecture-Performance: Wu Man

Release date: March 02, 2008 |

Wu Man, who is recognized for bringing the pipa to the Western world, will perform on the Chinese stringed instrument for Goucher College’s 48th Annual Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Lecture-Performance. The concert will be held in Kraushaar Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 2.

Although the performance is free and open to the public, seats must be reserved in advance by calling 410-337-6333 or e-mailing boxoffice@goucher.edu.

Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she became the first-ever recipient of a master’s degree in pipa. The plucked instrument has been played for nearly 2,000 years and frequently was referred to in Tang Dynasty poetry for its refinement and delicacy of tone.

The famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma selected Wu as the winner of the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize in music and communication. Ma and Wu were among the first Chinese artists to perform at the White House.

Over the years, Wu has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and she has played at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York. She has recorded extensively, and her music appears on several movie soundtracks, including “Eat Drink Man Woman” and “The Wedding Banquet.”

For almost five decades, the annual Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Lecture-Performance has featured notable musicians, including Marilyn Horne, Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Aaron Copland, Ravi Shankar, and Cyrus Chestnut. Established in 1959 with a gift from the Louis and Henrietta Blaustein Foundation, the Rosenberg Lecture-Performance honors the late Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg, the latter a 1921 Goucher alumna.